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41 » VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM INVENTORY WOES AND RENTAL PRICES CoreLogic's Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI), which assesses the total changes in single-family rent prices across the U.S. from August 2017 through August 2018, showed that rent increased nationally by 3.1 percent year-over-year. During the preceding 12 months, rent prices increased 2.7 percent. According to CoreLogic, a paucity of supply in single-family units is behind the rising rent prices. e SFRI indicates that single-family rent prices have gone up steadily between 2010 and 2018. However, rent prices have begun to rise more slowly ever since February 2016. Rent-price increases reached a high of 4.1 percent in February 2016, but since then have slowed to an average monthly rate of 2.8 percent. Low-end rentals continue to be those showing the highest spike in price for renters. While high-end rent prices went up only 2.7 percent, the overall average was brought up to 3.1 percent by the increase in low-end rent prices—which remains close to the overall peak year-over-year in February 2016 of 3.9 percent. Even so, the hike in prices for low- end rentals has slowed with the total average dropping from 4.2 percent as measured in August 2017. "High demand and low supply of lower-priced single-family rental properties continue to push up rents for this segment of the rental market," explains Molly Boesel, a Principal Economist at CoreLogic. "With these market forces expected to stay in place in the near term, rents on lower-priced rental properties should continue to outpace those of higher-end rental properties." Rent prices have also shown a marked rise in metro areas affected by the hurricanes that struck the country last year. Houston, for example, experienced a 3.7 percent increase in rent prices in the last 12 months, and ever since the storm the city and its adjacent metro area has shown a vigorous rise in rents. In fact, the first jump in Houston's average rent prices in over a year and a half occurred in October 2017, which showed a 1.1 percent increase just a month after the cleanup from Hurricane Harvey commenced and many in the city were left without homes. In the first half of 2018, rent prices in Houston have witnessed a cumulative 3.3 percent increase, or a 3.5 percent increase if one measures year- over-year. e SFRI doesn't just spotlight the national average but also focuses on the 20 metro areas with the highest year-over-year increase in single-family rents. Compared to a year ago, Orlando has experienced the highest annual increase in rent prices at 6.1 percent, followed closely by Las Vegas at 5.8 percent over the same period. e increase in rent in these two popular destinations, according to CoreLogic's report, is likely due to a corresponding growth in employment, with favorable economic conditions also allowing more Americans to travel on vacation.